Responding to Children and Adolescents Who Have Been Sexually Abused

Sexual abuse of children and adolescents is a violation of their rights and negatively affects their health. The new clinical guidelines that WHO has published titled, Responding to Children and Adolescents Who Have Been Sexually Abused is aimed at helping front-line health workers, mainly from low resource settings, in providing evidence-based, quality, trauma-informed care to survivors. This guideline outlines the importance of promoting safety, providing choices and respecting the wishes and autonomy of children and adolescents. It also goes over recommendations for post-rape care and mental health; and approaches to minimizing distress when documenting medical history, conducting examination and recording findings.